The Uruguayan meat This year was the one with the lowest value in exports to China with a 12% drop between January and May; however, not all is bad news for the agricultural sector as an increase in imports from the Asian giant is expected by 2025.
According to the latest data published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA, (acronym in English), a 12% drop in the prices of Uruguayan meat was perceived, making it the worst among the top 6 suppliers of the Asian giant.
Behind, there is Brazil with a drop of 11% in its prices and New Zealand in third place with 10%. Meanwhile, Argentina ranked fifth with a drop of 6%, while Australian beef had the smallest drop with a 4% drop in exports.
“Prices for imported beef are generally lower than those for domestically produced beef, especially for Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil”, the report said. Meanwhile, US beef exports were the only ones to gain 6% in the period from January to May.
Good prospects for 2025
Despite the drop in values, the report did not only bring bad news as it expects an improvement in the Chinese imports for next year compared to the current year.
According to the USDA, The increase would be 1.3%, the lowest in the last decade, although imports would reach a new record, rising from 3.9 to 3.95 million tons. If this objective is achieved, the volume would increase by 10.4% compared to last year.
“Although an increase is expected in consumption, local production and the volume of imported meat in stock are high, year-on-year growth will not be as strong as in previous years due to competition with more abundant local supplies and high inventory carried over from the previous marketing year,” says the report from the US department published on the 19th of this month.
In that sense, the USDA estimates one task in the Asian giant with an increase of 3% during the first half of next year, and beef production 20,000 tonnes below this year’s figure, although an increase of 250,000 compared to 2023.
Source: Ambito
